If only you knew
Read Time: 10 mins
“Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.””
John 4:10, 13-15 NLT
This woman has been coming to get water from the prized well of her people. This was Jacob’s well. You know Jacob. The famed brother of Esau, son of Issac and grandson of Abraham, the father of the faith. This was Jacob who was later named Israel. Jacob would be considered a patriarch and progenitor of their people and faith. This was an important well. This was Jacob’s well. The best well anyone for miles had experienced. The question of better being available was preposterous at best and disrespectful at worst. This was The Jacob’s Well. And this lady is using it to fulfill the normal and expected needs God designed her and her people with. She was there to get water, this wouldn’t have been seen as taboo or shady. We all need and expect to need water. Water is a basic staple. God designed us to need it and crave it. And this woman is getting it from a well that has worked more than fine for her, her family and everyone around her.
But Jesus says He has something better. While her water had been used for her entire life by everyone around her and was considered and even celebrated as a staple, it had one major flaw that they saw as such a given that the possibility of better wasn’t even thought of. This water may have eased pain and quenched thirst for a while, but it would never fully satisfy the inner need. This water was good at the moment but its power wouldn’t last. Jesus is stepping in to say that He has a water that infinitely and deeply affects the core needs and provides fulfillment of all kinds.
God designed us with needs and desires meant to be filled by Him and make us desire Him more. But the devil often tries to distract us by taking what God meant for pure good and replacing it with junk food counterfeits that ease our very real desire and sustenance in the moment but hurt and leave us craving something more later. We as humans have needs that Christ wants to fill. God designed you to desire a peace that is outside of you because He is the Prince of Peace that wants to guard your thoughts and emotions proactively. But the devil would love for you to resolve your very real need for peace with a joint that will only last an hour. God wants you to feel special and valued, but the devil would love for you to settle for jobs and friends outside of your purpose and below your calling instead of choosing an infinitely fulfilling life with Him. God would love for you to find identity that brings confidence but the devil would love for you to get distracted in a rat race that will never give you what you’re craving. God would love for you to feel loved by someone who allows Him to love you through them but the devil would love for you to settle for a relationship that only scratches the itch.
This was more than a conversation about water. Jesus was using water as a symbol for the very real need she needed to fulfill. And Jesus is offering Himself as the fulfillment for this woman’s needs. She had been busy going elsewhere to search for the missing piece she felt in her heart and life and many of us are too. We feel something is missing and desperately want more. We desire safety, community and intimacy. We crave self actualization, esteem, love, and belonging. We long for the feeling of being valued and cherished. We want to feel safe and purposeful in this world and God wants to fulfill these voids and desires. Jesus is and wants to be everything you need but we often reach for counterfeits instead of jesus.
Every action of sin is a symptom of our inner longing for God. Everything broken that we reach for is our soul reaching for its Creator and missing. You didn’t play that girl because you just wanted to, you crave emotional safety and protection, but control is the only way you feel you can achieve that. You may have felt like your emotions weren’t safe and you never had protection so now you protect yourself by hurting others first. You’re really looking for the emotional safety and healing God creates that allows you to be vulnerable and find restoration of what the enemy took from you.
This woman’s vice was men. Her inner desire for something greater resulted in her seeking men to fulfill her in a way they weren’t big enough to. I don’t know if she craved the safety she never seemed to have in her childhood of emotional instability. I don’t know if she was looking for someone to see her and know her to fill a void of feeling forgotten and overlooked. Maybe she was allowing these men into her life because she often felt rejected but in them she would gladly receive and cherish acceptance. Maybe they offered the intimacy and sense of belonging she desired? I want you to find yourself in this woman. I don’t want to psychoanalyze her so much that we lose the potential to relate to her. She is left nameless so that you can place yourself in her story. What wounds and insecurities, even from as early as childhood, prompt you to seek distraction and resolution in broken places? And what do your desires say about what God wants to provide? You may not seek out fulfillment in men. You may distract yourself with social media or seek safety in your monetary gain. You may use drugs to bring the peace and escape you long for or sex for the intimacy and acceptance you crave. What do you use instead of Jesus? At the core, every action that produces a negative result is prompted by a positive and expected desire that God wants to fulfill. And He wants to fulfill it fully. Not just for a moment but for a lifetime.
Jesus and this woman have a safe and intimate conversation about the men she has been with. When you notice the common situations you find yourself in after an emotional high or low, you can begin to read these patterns to determine what you typically seek out or accept in an attempt to fulfill your needs, and what desires you may need to give to God to fulfill. This lady’s pattern was men. This is what she has been using to quench her desire. This is what she has been leaning on and allowing her pain to be mediated by. Jesus mentions that she has been with five other men and the person she is using now isn't for her either. But what I love here is that Jesus’s whole mission is to help her to see that more is possible with Him. Better is found in Him. Jesus is the only sustainable and truly filling source for what she was craving. She had been using men as a counterfeit substitute for the safety, provision and identity Jesus wanted to provide. Many of us are going to different wells when God wants to quench our thirst in Him once and for all. You may have switched careers a thousand times and every time it never feels right. You question this idea of purpose and if it's just mumbo jumbo people make up to feel good. But I promise you it is found in Jesus. You may have found your identity in what people thought of you or even what you have or wear. And you know this isn't sustainable. Real lasting fulfillment comes from standing solely on Jesus.
Money may bring reassurance but Jesus brings lasting safety. Women may bring comfort, acceptance or the needed rest and safe place you desire. But God will give you one much better. All the things we use to fill these holes aren't always bad. But they’re often out of order. We turn good things into the ultimate thing and they take the foundational place only God can sustain. Job security, ambition, relationships, health and wealth aren’t bad but they can often be twisted from good gifts given by God to things we use to replace God. Building on the strong foundation of Jesus makes everything else fit into place. Seek God first and every need will be fulfilled.
Jesus was speaking of His Spirit when He talked about this water He would give. God is often described through elements like water and wind because while they are pure and gentle, they seek to fit into any situation and totally transform it. God wants to make His way into the cracks and corners of your life that therapy couldn’t even reveal. God wants to squeeze into the things you don’t even know are affecting you and bring restoration. God wants to be the catalyst for complete transformation. This woman had been with six men, but the seventh was the only one strong enough and equipped to provide what she didn't even know she needed. Seven is a number of completion and wholeness. She had tried to find fulfillment in many other places. But Jesus was the seventh man she had a connection with, the one that completed her. You may use a myriad of things to cope with stress or trauma. And God understands. He isn’t trying to condemn you or view you any different because of your coping mechanisms or responses to trauma. Oftentimes we focus on the symptom but Jesus goes straight to the core. He is trying to step in and not just heal but give you something sustainable so that you don't have to lean on other things and people that don't last and aren't big enough to hold you. Jesus loves you so much that He wants to bring restorative healing. He doesn't want you to just ease the coughs and hide the symptoms. He wants to be the remedy for life’s sickness. We all react in diverse ways. But it’s all coming from the same inner sickness which means we all need the same remedy and healing. That healing is jesus. There is a balm in Gilead who makes the wounded whole. There is a balm in Gilead who heals the sin sick soul. Sometimes you may feel discouraged and think it's all in vain. But the Holy Spirit will revive your soul again. Try Jesus. Try the balm in Gilead. Try Jesus.
If only you knew what was possible, you would ask Him for living water…
